Jones, a model from Long Beach, was 23 when she disappeared on April 29, 1985, according to a statement from Los Angeles County sheriff's officials. Her body was found two months later in a remote area of Azusa Canyon east of Highway 39. She had been stabbed to death.

Days after she went missing, Spicer was found driving Jones' 1978 Chevrolet Camaro and arrested. But he was released, as

there was "insufficient evidence" to pursue murder charges, the statement said.

The case was reopened in 2009 by

Sheriff's Homicide Cold Case Detective

Steve Davis

, who uncovered DNA evidence. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office then determined there was sufficient evidence for homicide charges to be filed.

Spicer, 59 and jobless, was served with an arrest warrant at his Las Vegas home.

UPDATE, OCT. 29, 2012, 2:37 P.M.:

Correction: An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly listed Joanne Marie Jones as the girlfriend of Stafford Joel Spicer. The two did not know each other. The Weekly regrets the error.

On Oct. 1, a Pomona Superior Court jury convicted Spicer for the murder of Jones in 1985. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, homicide detective Steve Davis found a key witness who heard Spicer admit to the killing. DNA evidence was also used in solving the case.

Spicer faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. He will be sentenced at the Pomona Superior Court.